Remittances Glossary

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Remittances Glossary

Primary school enrollment (percent of gross): Gross enrollment ratio
is the ratio of total enrollment, regardless of age, to the population of the
age group that officially corresponds to the level of education shown. Primary
education provides children with basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills
along with an elementary understanding of such subjects as history, geography,
natural science, social science, art, and music.

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators and United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Institute for Statistics. Link

Tertiary school enrollment (percent of gross): Gross enrollment ratio
is the ratio of total enrollment, regardless of age, to the population of the
age group that officially corresponds to the level of education shown. Tertiary
education, whether or not to an advanced research qualification, normally requires,
as a minimum condition of admission, the successful completion of education
at the secondary level.

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators and United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Institute for Statistics. Link

Foreign Direct Investment: Investment that is made to acquire a lasting
management interest (usually 10 percent of voting stock) in an enterprise operating
in a country other than that of the investor (defined according to residency),
the investor’s purpose being an effective voice in the management of
the enterprise. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings,
other long-term capital, and short-term capital as show in the balance of payments.
FDI includes inter-company debt.

Formal inward remittances: Formal inward remittances are considered
the sum of workers remittances, compensation of employees, and migrants’ transfers.
Workers' remittances refer to transfers in cash or in kind from migrants
to resident households in the countries of origin. Usually these are ongoing
transfers between members of the same family, with persons abroad being absent
for a year or longer. Compensation to employees refers to the wages,
salaries, and other remuneration, in cash or in kind, paid to individuals
who work in a country other than where they legally reside. For example,
the wages earned by seasonal or other short-term migrant workers (i.e., abroad
for less than a year) would be included in this category, as well as border
workers who work, but do not reside, in a neighboring country. It also includes
wages and salaries earned by the local staff of foreign institutions, such
as embassies and international organizations, and companies based abroad
but operating locally. Migrants' transfers refer to capital transfers
of financial assets made by migrants as they move from one country to another
and stay for more than one year.

Formal inward remittance data are taken mostly from credits to the balance
of payments data file of the International Monetary Fund as reported by central
banks. Most central banks use remittance data reported by commercial
banks, but leave out flows through money transfer operators and informal personal
channels. Formal channels include money transfer services offered by banks,
post office banks, non-bank financial institutions, and foreign exchange bureaus
and money transfer operators.

Formal outward remittances: Formal outward remittances are considered
the sum of workers remittances, compensation of employees, and migrants’ transfers.
Workers' remittances refer to transfers in cash or in kind from migrants
to resident households in the countries of origin. Usually these are ongoing
transfers between members of the same family, with persons abroad being absent
for a year or longer. Compensation to employees refers to the wages,
salaries, and other remuneration, in cash or in kind, paid to individuals
who work in a country other than where they legally reside. For example,
the wages earned by seasonal or other short-term migrant workers (i.e., abroad
for less than a year) would be included in this category, as well as border
workers who work, but do not reside, in a neighboring country. It also includes
wages and salaries earned by the local staff of foreign institutions, such
as embassies and international organizations, and companies based abroad
but operating locally. Migrants' transfers refer to capital transfers
of financial assets made by migrants as they move from one country to another
and stay for more than one year.

Formal outward remittance data are taken
mostly from debits to the balance of payments data file of the International
Monetary Fund as reported by central banks. Most central banks use
remittance data reported by commercial banks, but leave out flows through
money transfer operators and informal personal channels. Formal channels
include money transfer services offered by banks, post office banks, non-bank
financial institutions, and foreign exchange bureaus and money transfer operators.

Informal remittances: Informal remittances include all money and in-kind
transfers that do not involve formal contracts, and are hence unlikely to be
recorded in national accounts. Informal channels include cash transfers based
on personal relationships through business people, or carried out by courier
companies, friends, relatives or oneself. In addition, informal remittance
systems include more advanced Hawala and Hundi systems that rely on a network
of agents.

Gross Domestic Product: GDP at purchaser's prices is the sum of gross
value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes
and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated
without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion
and degradation of natural resources. Data are in current U.S. dollars. Dollar
figures for GDP are converted from domestic currencies using single year official
exchange rates. For a few countries where the official exchange rate does not
reflect the rate effectively applied to actual foreign exchange transactions,
an alternative conversion factor is used.

Merchandise exports: Exports include all types of outward movement
of goods through a country or territory including movements through customs
warehouses and free zones. Goods include all merchandise that either add to
or reduce the stock of material resources of a country by entering (imports)
or leaving (exports) the country's economic territory.

Unless otherwise indicated,
exports are valued at transaction value, including the cost of transportation
and insurance to bring the merchandise to the frontier of the exporting country
or territory.

According to the World Trade Organization,
goods (merchandise) are defined as “physical objects for which a demand
exists, over which ownership rights can be established and whose ownership
can be transferred from one institutional unit to another by engaging in transactions
on markets”. Thus, the recording
of transactions should be based on the change of ownership principle.

Commercial service exports: Exports include all types of outward movement
of goods through a country or territory including movements through customs
warehouses and free zones. Goods include all merchandise that either add to
or reduce the stock of material resources of a country by entering (imports)
or leaving (exports) the country's economic territory.

Unless otherwise indicated,
exports are valued at transaction value, including the cost of transportation
and insurance to bring the merchandise to the frontier of the exporting country
or territory.

Commercial service exports include transport, travel, communication,
construction, insurance, financial, computer and information, other business,
and cultural and recreational services, and royalties and license fees. It
does not include government services.

Agricultural exports: Exports include all types of outward movement
of goods through a country or territory including movements through customs
warehouses and free zones. Goods include all merchandise that either add to
or reduce the stock of material resources of a country by entering (imports)
or leaving (exports) the country's economic territory. Unless otherwise indicated,
exports are valued at transaction value, including the cost of transportation
and insurance to bring the merchandise to the frontier of the exporting country
or territory. Agricultural exports include processed and unprocessed food and
raw materials.

Life expectancy at birth: Life expectancy at birth indicates the number
of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at
the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.

Middle East and North Africa: Includes Algeria, Djibouti, the Arab
Republic of Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya,
Morocco, Oman, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, the West Bank and Gaza, and
the Republic of Yemen.

East Asia and the Pacific: Includes American Samoa, Cambodia, China,
Fiji, Indonesia, Kiribati, the Democratic Republic of Korea, the People’s
Democratic Republic of Laos, Malaysia, the Marshall Islands, the Federated
States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Northern Marinara Islands, Palau,
Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste,
Tonga, Vanuatu, and Vietnam.

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